ALEX LOWRY finds himself at a crossroads at Rangers. His next steps will define his journey and determine which route he heads down at Ibrox.
At 19, Lowry has his life and his career ahead of him but he already faces crucial choices and the words from Michael Beale should act as an inspiration as well as a warning. Ultimately, it comes down to the man himself.
The first decision to be made could well come on deadline day if Rangers look to secure a loan deal that would allow one of their most highly-regarded young players the chance to go out and establish himself elsewhere. Beale can offer insight and advice on that particular call.
Lowry is the only one who can look introspectively, though, and pick a path that will either see him fulfill his potential with Rangers or fail to make the grade at the club where he seemed destined to make his name.
It is just over a year since Lowry scored in the win over Stirling Albion at Ibrox and his second goal came in the win at Tynecastle on the final day of the season. On Wednesday night, Rangers will make the trip to face Hearts once again and the playmaker will be nowhere to be seen.
The crude, callous challenge from Ally Love on the night that Lowry scored a hat-trick in a B Team game against Dumbarton cruelly interrupted his campaign and it is under the guidance of David McCallum that the majority of his appearances have come this term. A run-out against Ajax was his only game time for Giovanni van Bronckhorst and a late cameo away to St Johnstone was his first showing since starting against Motherwell a month previously.
There is no question that Lowry - with a deft touch and eye for a pass - has the technical excellence to play for Beale's side. Yet that natural ability is never enough at a club like Rangers and it takes more than raw talent to emerge through the ranks and live the dream.
"It’s hard to be a young player and get it," Beale said. "What does the academy prepare you for? The academy prepares you to be technically able, to have a good understanding of the game.
"When you go in the changing room with men, that’s a different thing. Everybody in this building is aware that, with the ball at his feet, he’s really talented.
"He’s got to tick a few other boxes. How do you tick them? You give him an opportunity on the park to tick them.
"I started him against Motherwell. I thought we saw the performance of a young boy with promise. He wasn’t 10 out of 10. He wasn’t 6 out of 10.
"He was somewhere in between. It depends how closely you watched him. I was pleased with him.
"He had an injury afterwards. He has come back. I put him on at St Johnstone in a cup tie we had to win, at 1-0. And I took off Ryan Kent. If that’s not showing Alex Lowry that I believe in him… he knows clearly the areas I want him to work on."
There has been an excitement and anticipation around Lowry long before he marked his debut against the Binos - on the night he replaced the injured Ianis Hagi - with a lovely finish that showed why he had been spoken about as one with a real chance to make it at Ibrox.
Right now, Lowry needs to play games. He will either have to move on in order to find them or redouble his efforts to earn a place in a side that is not short of options in the final third of the pitch.
"If he stays, he will still be given opportunities," Beale continued. "If the right loan was to come, [given] our relationship, you’re guaranteed to be here pre-season to fight to play next season.
"If in the interim, we find the right loan and you really fancy it, OK no problem. But go and play to come back here. Don’t go to play there.
"If you’re going to stay in, you need to continue fighting and showing every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re the oldest player in the squad or the youngest, the team is the vehicle.
"So your personal success has a lot to do with the rest of the players in the squad. It’s hard to ask a young boy at 19 to be a main player in our team straight away. He has the potential to be a really exciting one in the future.
"Same with Malik Tillman. There is probably about 8-9 months in it. We all expect Malik to score and assist and lead every game. Well, he won’t be here for long if he does that."
Beale insisted that it would need to be a Premiership switch if Lowry was to head out to a Scottish side before the close of business on Tuesday evening. If a move that suited all parties could be agreed, it would certainly make sense.
Placing players at the right club at the right time in not an exact science. Beale has been honest with all of his squad throughout the window and Lowry knows where he stands at present.
"The right manager I think," Beale said. "The right manager that is going to give him a chance to nurture him. It doesn’t have to be here in Scotland. It can be further afield.
"It’s a matter of ‘is it the right option?’ If not, then the best option is for him to be here. All I’m saying is I wouldn’t rule it out. Nor would Alex.
"It’s not like you’re hearing anything he hasn’t heard. We had this conversation at the start of the window. We had it in the middle of it. And we had it again this morning.
"So we are all on the same page. If I was a young player, and there was Cantwell and Hagi and Kent and Tillman and Roofe and Sakala and Wright... if you can be as good if not better than them, you’re going to play here at Rangers. Because they are 3-4 years older and are playing regularly."
The coming hours will determine if Lowry is still a member of Beale's squad or not. Whatever colour of shirt he is pulling on, the importance of the next few months cannot be understated for the Scotland youth international.
Lowry's predicament is nothing new. He is now too good to be turning out for the second string on a weekly basis but the leap to a first team that have domestic and European ambitions each term is still a difficult one to complete.
"B-Team football is never going to bridge it so this is the next best thing," Beale said. "They do have a regular games programme and they do play against men and various opponents and it is for three points so in that sense I think it’s good.
"But you can’t judge the level of the Lowland League to what we’re competing to do week in and week out. We’re preparing to win trophies, to fight at the top of the league to try and win the league and to qualify and compete better in European competition. That is the level that I judge the team on and the players on every day.
"I only want people in the building I think can compete at that level. For young players to jump from the Lowland League to our first team, that’s a big jump.
"Their biggest games are during the week in training. When they come over today, for example, Aaron Lyall, Robbie Ure, Zak Lovelace will train with us. That’s the biggest challenge they’ll have this week, not their games."
